Secret life of bees, Final Essay

Secret Life of Bees, Final Essay

“There is nothing perfect,” August said, “There is only life.” To Lily's delicate ears this quote by August seems rather sharp, yet very relevant. In The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, Lily deals with the difficult trauma caused by the death of her mother. In Lily's eyes her mother; Deborah is perfect. The one person in her life she felt that loved her and that she belonged to is now dead. Lily accidentally shot her mother when she was 4 years old. Throughout the novel, Lily relies on the signs of her mother to guide her through her trauma; every move she takes is motivated by her mother’s previous actions.

In the beginning of the novel Lily's feelings for her mother are very strong, she loves her mother dearly and misses her constantly, especially during the night when she is alone. Sitting in bed, all alone missing her mother Lily sighs, “The oddest things cause me to miss her, like training bras. Who was I going to ask about that? And who but my mother could have understood the magnitude of driving me to junior cheer-leading tryouts.” When Deborah passed away she left behind a few items that Lily soon inherited. One of Lily’s favourites is a picture of Black Mary. On the back it has was labelled Tiburon, South Carolina which was once written by her mother. Lily decides to move to Tiburon, South Carolina, for one reason: because her mother had written it on the back of the picture that had once belonged to her. When she arrived in Tiburon she was taken in by the generous Boatwright Sisters. Lily wants to be accepted into the Pink house so badly she isn’t completely honest with everyone about her life. She makes up an elaborate story about being an orphan so that the Boatwright sisters will let Lily stay at their house. Lily feels a little guilty for lying to August, but is thankful to hear the words, “Well, you can stay here for until you figure out what to do. We can't have you living on the side of the road.”

Lily's feelings for her mother soon change after she learns the truth from August. Her mother had left her; she had run away from home and left Lily with T-Ray all by herself. The night Deborah died she was coming back to get her clothes and Lily after a nasty fight with her husband; T-Ray when Lily accidentally picked up the shot gun and killed her mother. Lily is very disturbed by the idea that her mother left her behind. She is angry with her for not loving her, for not being there for her, and for leaving her with her careless father. Lily admits to August, through her frustration “How dare she? How dare she leave me? I was her child.” As their conversation between August and Lily ends, all Lily could feel is that ugly feeling inside, “Left you, left you, left you” Lily repeats to herself for the rest of the night.

One ordinary afternoon Lily heard knock on the door. When Lily opened it, her face froze like toes on a winter night. T-Ray stood there with his permanent miserable personality, and immediately begins to scold Lily for running away from him. T-Ray begins to yell at Lily as if she were Deborah, T-Ray demands Lily to leave the “Black Community” and return to Sylvan with him immediately. T-Ray started to drag Lily out the door when August and Rosaleen showed up just in time. T-Ray was madly in love with Deborah, and was devastated when she died. In the Pink house when Lily yelled “Daddy, It's me Lily”, T-Ray stops pushing her around and his personality immediately switched from miserable to soft and caring. Lily feels she understands him more than ever in that exact moment in time. T-Ray agrees to leave Lily with August, as he was leaving Lily found the strength to ask him who really shot Deborah, his answer was short yet calm, he said, “I could tell you I did it….that’s what you want to hear. I could tell you she did it to herself, but both ways I’d be lying. It was you who did it, Lily. You didn't mean it, but it was you.” His truck started to roll backwards on the old dusty road and Lily walked safely inside to her new home with August.

Lily was mad at her mother for leaving her; but eventually realizes that Deborah was a real person, a living, breathing person. Lily knows real people have flaws and disappointments but it took Lily a little longer to realize that about her mother. The process of forgiving her mother is very difficult for Lily because Lily feels guilty for her role in killing her mother. The relationship between Deborah and her daughter is quite strong and developing more each day as Lily learns to deal with the trauma caused by the death of her mother. This quote “Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage” explains their relationship quite nicely, Lily is feeling deeply loved by her mother which gives her the strength to stand up to T-Ray, and continue living her life. While the second part to the quote symbolizes Lily’s strong feelings of love she gives to her mother, that feeling gives her courage to stand up for herself and plan her escape to Tiburon. In the beginning of the novel Lily followed her mother’s footsteps almost exact, yet as the novel progresses Lily lets the pain, anger, guilt, and frustration flow downhill and learns to live her own life.